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Bob's Tavern
Bob’s Tavern is a small trading post on the outskirts of the Detroit Wastelands. Outwardly little more then a stop over for trade caravans, it is quietly recognised as being a neutral ground where parties can meet and deal without interference. History Before the Great War, the building that would become Bobs’ Tavern was a simple, working-class neighbourhood bar. Never a glamorous place, it was run-down and dingy long before the Resource wars and the chaos that ensued. However, it was also a popular destination for workers at Detroit’s various factories as a place to go after work and relax, or to wash away their sorrows. As riots and shortages became commonplace in the city, it continued to operate, ever increasingly serving as an escape from the pressures of the world. As the Great War broke out on a Saturday morning, the bar was closed for business. In the aftermath of the conflict, it was looted, with much of any value (chiefly its liquor stock) being taken. The building itself was left intact, and then forgotten as most of the city’s population died to violence, starvation, cold, radiation, disease or any one of the many other ways that the post-war world could kill them. The building was not rediscovered until the 2150s when humans began to return to the city. One of the few standing in its neighbourhood, it was still largely passed over by scavengers due to the combination of its remote location and having little of any real value. The only real use it saw was as a temporary shelter by trade caravans heading between the various emergent communities that were growing up in the ruined city and those out in rural Michigan. While its existence became known amongst traders, few sought to do anything to permanently occupy the site. In 2179, a group of raiders took it upon themselves to hit the stopover, seeking to harvest the caravans there of anything of any value. What was intended to be a quick smash and grab operation instead became a pitched gunfight, as the raiders bogged down in battle against the mercenary caravan guards. Ultimately the attack was a failure, with the raiders driven off at heavy cost to those present. A number of guards and several traders had been killed in the attack, which had shown the vulnerability of their informal meeting spot. Bob Ladd, one of the surviving traders, stepped forward with an idea. He wanted to take control of the site, and turn it into something more than just a temporary stopover. His suggestion called for fortifying the site and turning it into a safe spot where traders could stop over before heading into the city proper. As the idea gained traction, others suggested refurbishing and reopening the bar to allow traders to have a place to gather and relax, while also swapping information and news. Having floated the idea, Ladd then had to make it work. He invested most of his caps into the site, purchasing supplies, furniture and other essentials from Park Lane in order to outfit the bar. At the same time, he hired workmen to construct walls around the building and enclose it while leaving a fair amount of open space around it, in addition to shoring up the building and repairing some of the damage caused by a century of neglect. The nearby ruined buildings served as a source of material, with a number of them torn down or dismantled to aid in the construction. In order to staff the bar and trading post, Ladd again turned to Park Lane, hiring from its burgeoning population and especially its growing number of transients. Aside from bar staff, he also hired a small team of mercenaries to serve as security and protection against attacks. While expensive, Ladd expected his investment to quickly pay off. He was not wrong, as news of Bob’s Tavern (as it came to be called) spread quickly amongst the trader community. While it was already being used as a stop-off, the idea of a fortified rest-stop, complete with a place to eat, drink and rest, proved to be very enticing to the trader population. Within months, Bob’s was the main entry point for traders heading into the Detroit Wasteland. Furthermore, it also began to attract considerable attention as a clearinghouse of news and information both from the ruined city itself and the Michigan region. The first real test of Ladd’s plan came in 2182 when a force of raiders decided to attack the trading post in a repeat of the 2179 assault. This time they faced far stiffer and more organised opposition who had the added benefits of protective walls and guard posts. The battle was swift and one-sided, with the Raiders falling back after sustaining severe causalities for no gain at all. Not only did this prove the viability of Ladd’s plan, but it also demonstrated to the raiders that there would be nothing to gain from future attacks. As the communities of the Detroit Wasteland grew, so did their trading activity and, consequently, so did the influence of Bob’s Tavern. With the growing rivalries between Park Lane, Grand Central and Chryslus Castle, Bobs’ took on a role as a neutral meeting ground for representatives of the three communities to gather and do business while avoiding settlement politics. Possibly the most important meeting of this period was the summit where Park Lane and Grand Central both agreed to recognise Scrap Iron City as an independent community, free from Chryslus Castle’s control. In 2207, Bob Ladd chose to retire, citing ill health and advanced age. His replacement, Milly Olsen, chose to retain the name of the trading post, and continue operating it as he had. She would face her first major test as manager only a month after taking over when the trading post came under attack. While raider attacks had continued, they had become sporadic and posed very little threat to the community. This time would be different. Bob’s was attacked by a force of Super Mutants who were roaming from their base on Zug Island. Their presence was both unexpected and frightening for many of those present; few had ever seen a Super Mutant themselves, and only knew of them from oft-exaggerated second-hand tales. Unprepared for such an attack, and not equipped to take on the sheer brute strength of the mutants, the guards were unable to mount an effective defence. The mutants broke through the wall, pushing the guards back towards the tavern itself. Inside, everyone who could fight armed themselves and prepared for the worst. The battle turned against the Mutants, but not through any clever planning or desperate last stand, but rather by simple happenstance. A trade caravan was arriving at the post, and realised what was going on. Having come from the Flint River region, it had a squadron of well-armed mercenaries acting as escorts, with the caravan leader immediately ordering them to attack the mutants. Caught from behind and suddenly squeezed between two forces, the mutants were forced to break off their attack and fall back. While the trading post had survived the attack, the cost was heavy. The main walls had been torn open, and a number of mercenary guards and traders lay dead. Not only did Olsen have to rebuild the walls, but she also had to fight against this blow to the post’s reputation as a safe haven, something that would prove to be far harder to accomplish. While Bobs’ did continue to act as a stopover, it took some time for traffic to return to normal, with many opting to only stop as long as they had to and not take advantage of the facilities. It was only after the walls were reinforced and Olsen hired more guards that traffic returned to its pre-invasion levels. The 2250s and 60s would prove to be a particularly profitable time for Bob’s Tavern as it garnered more and more attention from traffic outside of the usual traders. The growing Army of Revolution was discretely using the tavern as a front for intelligence gathering and recruiting, a fact that the management knew about but actively encouraged as it increased their own revenue. While obstinately enforcing their own neutrality in the face of city politics, the tavern was making a fortune off bribes and payoffs in exchange for information. After the Army of Revolution was driven from the city, the staff and management of Bob’s Tavern did their utmost to ensure that their role in enabling the fighting would not become public. None the less, the tavern’s fate would be tied up with the Army of Revolution in a number of different ways. In the early 2280s, the industrial settlement known as the Foundry began making inroads into the Detroit Wasteland, looking for allies and trading partners. Seeing an opportunity for their own profit, the staff at Bob’s Tavern put the Foundry’s scouts in contact with the Army of Revolution, figuring that the two groups would want to trade, and, as such, help bring in traffic and caps. This prediction proved correct, and soon there was a steady train of caravans moving back and forth between the Foundry and the Revolutionaries’ headquarters at the Michigan State Mental Hospital, all passing through Bob’s. Despite its value, Bobs’ Tavern was not attacked during the Revolutionary War. Its location placed it well outside of the Revolutionaries’ advance, which was focused more on capturing the major settlements in Detroit proper. However, among the upper management, there was a certain degree of guilt in the acknowledgement of the role they had played in enabling the conflict in the first place (The loss of trade traffic from Baggie High and Scrap Iron City, as well as the risk of being marginalised should the Revolutionaries achieve their goals doubtless played a part in this as well). While remaining outwardly neutral, the tavern did what they could to aid in communication between the remaining free settlements. This opening up would eventually result in the alliance between the three that lead to the Army of Revolution’s defeat. In the post-war environment, Bob’s Tavern has continued to remain a neutral trading post. While the loss of traffic from two of the settlements has cut into their business, other opportunities have presented themselves as well. While still allied with the Army of Revolution, the Foundry has been seeking out other trading partners in the city. The staff at Bob’s have been all to happy to aid them, realising the bounty that this could bring to them in return. Description The area known as “Bob’s Tavern” covers the better part of a city block, surrounded by wood and scrap metal walls. Most of the pre-war buildings inside the block have fallen into ruin, and have been torn down for use as building materials. At the center of the block is the tavern itself, a pre-war three-story brick building that has survived almost entirely intact. The rest of the area is filled up with open yards and shacks built from salvaged materials; during the summer months, tents are erected to provide additional shelter. Having been restored and maintained by a constant stream of owners, the bar retains its pre-war functions and layout. The ground floor serves as a bar, serving drinks and food to paying customers, while also providing places to sit. The booth seats along the wall are a favourite place for discrete meetings and exchanges of information. The upper two floors include the offices for the staff, as well as their accommodation. Some rooms are also available for rent at a premium fee. The basement is used for storage of food, drinks, chems, weapons, ammunition and other necessities of running the outpost. Traders usually stay in the outer shacks. While of crude construction using salvaged material, they are still safe, secure and provide shelter from the elements, something that is rarely available on the road. The traders are encouraged to mingle and trade with each other, as well as to exchange information. This, in turn, filters back to the staff, who will then pass on what they have learned to other interested parties. All of the staff, including the mercenaries, answer to the outpost’s manager. In essence the owner of the operation, they are typically picked from among the staff by the prior manager before their retirement. In all matter, the manager has the final say and his word is law in the outpost. However, their policies are usually relatively light-handed and aimed more at ensuring a steady flow of business and caps. Security is provided by a group of hired mercenaries. Not coming from any one organisation or company, they are usually hired piecemeal as needed. Many are often on the older side of the profession, where age or injuries prevent them from getting more active field work. These soldiers serve two important functions. The first is obviously to protect the outpost from external attack, operating from watch posts along the wall and even the roof of the main building itself. The second is to serve as a police force of sorts, resolving disputes and ensuring that the situation within the walls remain orderly. There is very little standardisation of equipment; rather, each soldier uses whatever they came with. A leader is appointed from their ranks by the manager, usually based on who has been employed by the outpost the longest. Notable Staff Ralph Blake The manager of Bob’s Tavern, Ralph Blake has held the position since 2275, and shows no signs of retiring. In addition to the management of the tavern, Ralph likes to spend as much time as is practical behind the bar and interacting directly with his customers. While he claims that this is for the sake of presenting a ‘face’ to their clientele, the truth is that he has a good ear for news and information that has been very profitable to the tavern over the years. A skilled listener, he has a knack for picking out the most valuable information, finding kernels of truth in amongst all the noise and rumours. Perhaps because of this ability, he secretly deeply resents the role he played in enabling the Army of Revolution and fuelling the Revolutionary War. Even before the conflict, he gained an idea of what the Revolutionaries were planning from the information he was trading, but chose to do nothing about it at all. Instead, he remained focused on maintaining profitability, regardless of the cost to others. It was this regret that saw him support efforts to fight the Revolutionaries, even though doing such could be seen as a breach of his institution’s neutrality. Formerly married, Blake is estranged from his wife and two children. They live in Grand Central, and he has not had any contact with them for years. Linda Olsen Outwardly, Linda Olsen’s role is to liaison with incoming trade caravans, provide them with accommodation and see to their needs. In truth, she is a skilled information broker, who plays on her good looks, affable nature and natural charisma to weed out what she wants from her patrons while ensuring that she knows their real needs. Her ability to read her customers and get what she wants from them has been very lucrative for the outpost, leading to many suspecting that she will become the next manager when Blake retires. Behind the scenes, Olsen is running her own agenda. She has a deep hatred of slavery, and uses her position to support anti-slaver groups and operations. Acting as an anonymous informant, she has served to disrupt slaver groups across the city, and even within the Army of Revolution’s territory. Some suspect that she (or at least, the anonymous source she represents) is responsible for the disruptions to the Revolutionaries’ operations within Scrap Iron City. Agatha Walton The chief of security (and thus head of the mercenary soldiers hired to protect the outpost), Agatha Walton is a self-described ‘cranky old lady’. A veteran mercenary, she claims to be ‘north of fifty’ and that she has spent most of that fighting one way or another. Walton was hired for her experience and skill, rather than any personality or likability on her part. She makes no effort to be pleasant towards the staff or clients, instead remaining permanently gruff and standoffish. Walton seems to honestly dislike everything, and will talk about why she does at length given any opportunity. She seems specifically hold some grudge against Black Skull Company, whom she describes as a group of ‘stuck-up elitist snobs’. She openly states that she never married and has no children, claiming that she could never find a man who would put up with her. Despite her age and disagreeable personality, Walton is an unquestionably skilled soldier. She is an excellent sniper, and has scored a number of kills against raiders and marauding wildlife from her preferred perch in top of the tavern. Category:Communities Category:Places Category:Michigan